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Boki95's avatar
Boki95
Joining in
11 hours ago

£787 cancellation fee

Hi, I was trying to cancel my contract today, I was out of contract for a couple months but renewed it last month on the 15, so 20 days ago. My new contract isn't even charged on my bill yet, my most recent on shows the out of contract one was was about £80ish and I was under the impression that I can cancel within 30 days without being charged a cancellation fee only to find out today that it's 14 days, not 30. So now that i'm 6 days late, I have to pay £787 to cancel? That's an insnae price for 6 days off. Apart from a period when I was with TalkTalk, terrible service, I've been with virgin media for years. I recently lost my job and that's why I wanted to cancel, find a deal that's the same for lower price and I did but there's no way i can afford £787 when i'm struggling with my current virgin media bill. Is there something I can do to lower the fee or cancel it? It's 6 days after the cool off period.

Thank you, Boki

cancellation
cancellation fees
Cancellation help
Cancellation team

2 Replies

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    11 hours ago

    Hi Boki,

    Sorry to  see you've recently lost your job.  Depending upon your financial circumstances you may qualify for the <Essential broadband> package** with VM  which would provide a low cost, low speed broadband connection

    Essential Broadband is £12.50 a month for a 15Mbps connection.

    Essential Broadband Plus is £20.00 a month for a 54Mbps connection

    Essential Broadband Plus with Flex is £20.00 a month for a 54Mbps connection with a one of set up fee which is currently £10 for the Flex TV box which provides over 150 TV channels.

    ** You need to be on either Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Income-based Employment Support Allowance to be eligible for Essential broadband packages.

    Only the account holder receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income-based Employment Support Allowance can apply 

    If you do qualify for the above then since you’re already in a contract with VM  they swap you over to one of the Essential broadband packages straight away and you won’t have to pay any fees or extra charges. Go to live chat using the above linked page for more details.

    If you transfer to an Essential broadband plan, your price won’t change whilst you are receiving any of the Benefits.

    Also see the section on the linked page

     How do I cancel? I’m no longer receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income-based Employment Support Allowance.
    Contact us on live chat. You can cancel your social tariff broadband at any time, with no exit fee.

    Just a reminder, we must run eligibility checks every 12 months for all these deals and will let you know every time whether: You’re still eligible for social tariff broadband – You’ll continue to be charged £12.50 a month (or £20 a month for essential broadband plus).
    You’re no longer eligible for social tariff broadband or you’ve stopped receiving support payments – The monthly cost will increase to our standard price .

  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Wise owl
    11 hours ago

    Sorry to hear about the job situation. Unfortunately VM is correct here. Some companies do have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee but not VM which sticks to the standard 14 day cooling off period. 

    VM does do a scheme for those on benefits etc. See https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/low-income-families

    *Follow the good advice of newapollo on VM's Essential Broadband before considering switching provider as you may be able to sidestep an early disconnection fee 👍

    As a fallback if Essentials broadband is impossible EE pays up to £300 in situations like this but you do really need to read those boring Ts and Cs in future (including EE's) https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/early-cancellation-credit